Russia said Thursday it was expelling a group of Hungarian diplomats in response to an “unfriendly” move by its former ally last month, when the central European country expelled 10 Russian diplomats.
Hungary’s former prime minister Viktor Orban was a Kremlin sympathiser and had not joined other European countries in expelling Russian diplomats in large numbers when Moscow sent troops to Ukraine in 2022.
Orban’s successor Peter Magyar has sought to mend ties with Ukraine since he came to power earlier this year.
Russia’s foreign ministry said it had summoned Hungary’s charge d’affaires to inform him it was expelling “a group of staff” from Hungary’s embassy in Moscow and consulates in Saint Petersburg and Kazan.
It said the diplomats had two weeks to leave Russia.
Hungary said last month it was expelling the Russian diplomats to protect its “security and sovereignty”.
Orban kept close ties with the Kremlin to the end of his rule, and had angered many of his EU counterparts in making several trips to Moscow after 2022.
